Two women are teaming up to raise awareness of the issue of periods in sport - and promote the idea of "football for all."
Owner of ' Kick Some Balls ' Rachael Mutch, 39, from Bootle, says she wants to help anyone who feels marginalised within the sport.
Rachael has recently partnered with Jo Murray, 30, from Doncaster, a player/manager at Alder women's football club, to create a 'care package' for players who menstruate while playing football.
The pair met whilst playing for the same team, Liverpool Feds, and are now joining forces to help others who have been in similar situations.
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Together the pair have created the "Just-In-Casey" bag.
The bag contains items including organic sanitary products, pain patches and snack bars.
Rachael said: " The stigma around periods within general every day life is stifling so we want to try our best to alleviate the pressure.
"We want to open up more discussions around the issues players who menstruate face ."
To create the product they started a Crowdfunder page, and on August 20 they successfully raised £525 with 26 supporters in 28 days.
When asked why the pair created this bag Rachael said: " I was having a conversation with Jolene Murray who is a player/manager at Alder women’s football club.
"We were talking about how most facilities at Grassroots football grounds were insufficient for menstruating people.
" You will have a toilet if you are lucky!"
She added: " I’ve been in changing rooms in the past where urinals were the only facility!
"W e started to talk about periods in football and how important it is for the facilities to cater for people, and that teams should have products, in case you are caught out on the day of a match and need a pad or tampon.
" She [Jo] started to tell me that she had bought a load of sanitary products and put them in little bags in the changing rooms wherever they went with the team, and was getting really good feedback from both players and parents.
"With me owning 'Kick Some Balls' she asked me if I would partner up with her and develop the ‘just-in-Casey’ bag.
Rachael "jumped at the chance" as she knew too well how periods can effect you during a match.
She said: " I played in goal for most of my Grassroots career, and whenever I was on my period I would find it difficult for a whole long list of reasons."
Rachael added: " I said what if the bag also contains things for the other stuff that impedes you as a player?
"This is where we came up with the idea of adding in protein bars for that extra boost, natural pain patches that you can wear whilst playing football, a little info leaflet all about how the menstrual cycle can affect you as a player.
" The leaflet idea was something that we thought was needed due to a lot of the managers being cis-male, and if they don’t have the info or don’t feel comfortable broaching the subject then it can leave players feeling isolated.
"W e wanted to get the male managers talking about it and using the bag as another piece of matchday equipment if you like."
We asked Rachael what they want to achieve by creating the bag, she said: "w e would love every grassroots club to sign up for a bag and the local FAs to realise that better facilities are needed within the game."
Asked what was next for the Just-In-Casey, Rachael told us: " We are about to start a research project with Liverpool John Moores University to look into what parts of the Just-In-Casey bag are working really well, and what needs improvement.
" The research will help us develop our product and hopefully step it up a level.
" From that we will develop an information booklet that goes inside the bag, that can be used as a quick guide to the menstrual cycle within football."
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